The White House Is Not Done Saying Horrible Things About NFL Protesters

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders doubled, then tripled, then, quadrupled down on Monday on President Donald Trump’s insistence that any football player protesting police brutality and racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem was a “son of a bitch” who should be “fired.”

Asked whether the Trump crossed the line in his condemnation, Sanders insisted that, actually, it’s extremely good for the president of the United States to insult citizens exercising their constitutional rights.

“This isn’t about the president being against anyone,” Sanders claimed. “This is about the president and millions of Americans being for something. Being for honoring our flag, honoring our national anthem, and honoring the men and women who fought to defend it.”

When it was pointed out to Sanders that the president had tweeted over a dozen times about flags and anthems and other extraordinarily important and pressing sports-related things, while remaining effectively silent on the 3.4 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico who were without power or shelter following hurricane Maria, Sanders bristled.

“He’s not emphasizing sports—you’re missing the entire purpose of the message,” Sanders said. “He’s emphasizing something that should be unifying. Celebrating and promoting patriotism in our country is something that should bring everybody together.”

Because nothing brings Americans together quite like demanding public displays of fealty under the threat of joblessness!

Sanders then took things even further, dismissing the notion that the protests started last year by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback were ever a response to racism and police violence in the first place.

“If the debate is really for them about police brutality, they should probably protest the officers on the field that are protecting them instead of the American flag,” Sanders stated, straight faced.

Wow, look at who’s suddenly become a huge expert on how to protest for civil rights!